Earnings problem?

[wanderlust]

I check a few times a week on my sales. I noticed a couple of months or so ago, my already cleared amount dropped in amount, enough to keep me from reaching the threshold. And no, none of the customers in the past year have been outside of the US so it's not a conversion issue.
I also never received my earnings after the end of the year like I should have by now. I thought, maybe there's a new rule since I haven't been active here this year, and I have to reach $50 to receive it first...
Well a couple of days ago, a sale of mine cleared that would surpass the $50...only it never got added to my total, it's still the same as it was prior to the item being cleared.

What's going on? Two different situations happening that's just keeping me from receiving what I'm owed. I've been here for nearly 4 years and this has never been an issue before. Will I need to contact customer service regarding this issue?

[Barbara]

I don't know if this is your issue, but just in case, your "Current Total Balance" up at the top is the only thing you should look at. Is it over $50? And the sale that just cleared--is it from January? If it's from February, it will be added to April's payment, not this month's.

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[wanderlust]

No it's not over $50. It should have been months ago, but for some reason my Current Total Balance went down and has stayed at the price it's currently at ever since, less than $1.20 away. I also remember Zazzle had a rule saying if you didn't meet the $50 by January, you received whatever was in your balance after 45 days. Has this changed?
The sale that just cleared was purchased on February 6th. I don't recall Zazzle taking two months to update the Current Total Balance, it was always immediate after a sale cleared. Is this new too? If so, it's making it difficult to keep track.

[DancingPelican]

According the Zazzle's info regarding earnings and payments schedule: 

Payment Schedule / When are payments issued?

Each month-long Earnings cycle is followed by 30 days of Clearance before payment of the accrued earnings can take place. After the earnings have cleared the system, they are queued for processing and are disbursed within the next 15 days.

For example: Earnings accrued in April, clear in May and are issued by the middle of June.

So, using your example of the sale you had on Feb 6th, it would clear in March and be paid to you in April. This is not a new procedure - it has been this way for as long as I have been on Zazzle.

At the bottom of your earnings page, you can find the link to Zazzle's help info regarding payments.

[wanderlust]

Right, and I understand that. But not getting issued payment for my sale in February isn't my concern.

My concerns are:
1. My balance dropped for no reason a couple months ago, which would've had me reach the threshold already, and I don't know why this is.
2. The fact that the February 6th sale clearing a couple of days ago that should put me above the $50 threshold did not add onto my balance at all like it always has immediately following a cleared sale. I've never not had my balance go up immediately following a cleared sale. It has nothing to do with payment, just adding onto my balance.
3. Not receiving my payment for 2024 earnings 45 days following the end of 2024 regardless of threshold amount, as has been Zazzle's policy. If that's changed though, I'd just like to know as I don't see anything about a change being made on that.

I usually accumulate $50 in royalties every few months, so I get paid either after the threshold is reached, or at the beginning of a new year after the 30 days clearance and 15 days to disperse. Neither happened like they should have.

Zazzle's help section does not address these specific issues I'm having that I could see.. If Zazzle has new policies on how things work, I don't know where I'd find those changes as browsing the help section was not helpful.

[DancingPelican]

Hopefully, Zazzle will respond and address your concerns. 

[Barbara]

This doesn't happen often, but every now and then, Zazzle issues a refund long after 30 days have passed, and it can be very difficult for a designer to spot. Can you find any cancellations from January or before that match the amount by which your earnings were reduced? If not, I'm totally out of ideas and agree with @DancingPelican that, hopefully, Zazzle can answer the query you've already sent them or will send them.

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[Mariholly]

@Barbara 

And for that same reason, we should be informed about what was returned. Sometimes, it's not so easy to find it by searching for the quantity. Also, if a return was accepted past the usual deadline, there must have been an important reason, so I would like to know what happened.

[wanderlust]

I actually only had 2 returns before January, one in October and one in early December. I don't sell many things, so I'm very aware when something sells and see right away if it cancels. Both canceled days after they purchased. One canceled from January, but it was the 30th they purchased, after I already saw the amount change.

It's why it's very weird to me, I didn't notice anything with cancellations that would've explained it.
But I do agree with @Mariholly if there's a return after it's been cleared that gets removed from our accounts, we should be informed of what's going on. It helps us keep track, and in this case, it helps me know if there's something weird going on with the system I need to contact support over.

[wanderlust]

So far contacting customer service has not been helpful. I got a copy/paste messages of policies, like how payments work and when, rather than addressing my specific concerns.

The only thing close to one of my concerns I was told about, both my disappearing amount and balance that has not been added (though the following sale from this has been cleared and has been added to my balance, so something is very wonky) was that:

"Any cleared volume bonus funds that you have earned for the period in question will be incorporated into your standard monthly royalty/referral earnings payment when the totals for the earnings cycle are tallied."

I don't sell enough in a month to reach the threshold, so I'm assuming for me it means when my $50 threshold payment is met. Even if it's added at the very end when I finally do receive my payment, only adding some sales but not others to my balance, and taking away money without an explanation as to why, is making it very difficult for me to figure out if I'm actually going to be getting paid everything I'm owed or not, and this is not the way I've ever experienced royalty payments on Zazzle before. It's tax season right now, and I'm filing on my own and this extra stress with the numbers not being handled correctly and not getting direct help from CS is not needed.

[Barbara]

If you haven't done so, try sending your concerns to www.zazzle.com/about/ask
I believe this will help you contact the appropriate people as opposed to regular customer service.

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